‘A pinch me moment': Builder with £12.40 in bank account wins £1m on scratchcard
Adam Lopez, 39, said he is choosing to take a break from work while he plans his future after his bank balance increased 'from £12.40 to £1,000,012.40'.
Mr Lopez, who is from Norwich, said he travelled home to the house he shares with his mum, Danica, and stepdad, Andrew, to share the news of his winnings, adding the call to claim his prize was 'the best call I've ever made'.
Discussing the moment he realised he had won, Mr Lopez said: 'I stopped to pick up a drink and bought a scratchcard at the same time.
'Once in the car I played the scratchcard and when I saw the £1 million, I didn't know what to do with myself, so shoved the scratchcard in the glovebox without even thinking.
'I always thought I'd scream if I ever won big but when it actually happened, I was stunned into complete silence!'
He added: 'It was the most surreal moment when the lady from the National Lottery confirmed that I was a millionaire! My mum went off like a balloon she was so excited for me!
'Seeing my balance go from £12.40 to £1,000,012.40 was a real 'pinch me' moment!'
Mr Lopez has swapped the forklift he usually drives at work for a Range Rover Sport and treated his mum to a Range Rover Evoque.
The builder said: 'Sadly we lost my dad eight years ago, he always said that he'd take care of us, and I think in some way this win has come from him.
'So, when I treated myself to my dream car, I knew I had to make mum's dream come true too. Seeing how happy it made her when she got behind the wheel of her new car was even better than when I found out I had won!'
Mr Lopez has also booked a family holiday to Barbados for next year with his winnings.
He added: 'Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen to me, I feel so blessed. I've given myself a budget to have fun, a pot to treat people I love and the rest I'm saving for the future.
'I plan to use this time to enjoy myself and get fit, as I want to travel more next year. The trip to Barbados is going to be amazing and I'm also hoping to visit friends in New York.
'Who knows, I may even book a first-class ticket as I've always wanted to turn left on an aeroplane – thanks to this win I can make that dream a reality too!'
Mr Lopez bought his winning Scratchcard from a Premier store on Reepham Road, Norwich.
It costs £5 to play and there is a one in 3.33 overall chance of winning a prize, with prizes ranging from £5 to the top prize of £1 million.
The National Lottery generates on average more than £30 million each week for National Lottery-funded projects.
It has awarded more than £95 billion in prizes and created more than 7,400 millionaires or multimillionaires since its launch in 1994.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
The battle to save a high street giant from Woolworths' fate
The new owners of WH Smith's high street shops have vowed to arrest decades of decline after swooping on the business in a cut-price deal. Trading under the fictitious new name TG Jones, hundreds of stores are poised to be revamped with postal and banking services as part of a bold attempt to emulate Boots and become 'a vanguard retailer' that is part of the 'lifeblood' of communities. The changes are at the centre of a comprehensive restructuring plan put together by the investment firm Modella Capital, which completed a takeover of WH Smith's estate of 464 shops on Monday. The deal excludes branches in train stations and airports, which will continue to operate under the WH Smith name. Modella's buyout followed months of intense negotiations, including a last-minute reduction to the price tag after a deterioration in trading. The shops will continue to be run by Sean Toal, the managing director of WH Smith's high street arm since 2019. The introduction of vital services alongside everyday products is 'really important', if the shops want to become more relevant and the business is to avoid the same fate as other high profile retailers that fell out of favour, said Steve Curtis, Modella's chairman. 'We think there's a really exciting story here for a business that could have been Woolworths Two…There's no reason why, with the proper love and care and a bit of support, it should ever close. It should be in rude health,' Curtis added. Woolworths was a familiar presence on British high streets for more than 90 years until its collapse in 2008. Toal said: 'The high street is crying out for more services. There is a sense that the average high street is sort of being hollowed out. And a lot of the stuff that really makes a high street is just kind of fast disappearing.' Curtis added that the Post Office already has counters in nearly 200 branches, but the ambition was to have one 'of some size in every single one of our stores'. Modella points to the way Boots has managed to remain an enduring feature of town centres by providing prescriptions, vaccinations and advice for minor health ailments. Shops will be further rejuvenated through tie-ups with Hornby, the toymaker behind brands such as Airfix and Scalextric, as well as fantasy games sensation Warhammer. There are also plans for a fresh push into music after WH Smith reintroduced vinyl last year following a 30-year hiatus. Pick-and-mix – once a staple of Woolworths' shops – could make a comeback too. Curtis likened its ambitious plans to pointing a 'great old tanker' 'in a slightly different direction'. The changes will 'take a period of time' but 'by the time you get to the end of it, it's going to look quite different – it'll be a different vibe'. 'Grand old institution' WH Smith has faced enduring ridicule for allowing its stores to become tired and rundown. Eventually, the neglect became the inspiration for a Twitter account called @WHS_Carpet, which dedicated its time to naming and shaming the shabbiest premises. she's a beaut — carpet (@WHS_Carpet) June 19, 2025 When its plans to exit the high street were unveiled in March, industry figures expressed fears that as many as half its shops would be quickly jettisoned – but the opposite is true, Modella promises. A longstanding policy of shrinking the estate by shutting the worst-performing stores will be paused. Some are now in line for a much-needed facelift. Modella, which also owns Hobbycraft and the Original Factory Store, will pay £40m to take control, down from the £52m that was agreed when the deal was first unveiled, for a business that made £15m of operating profit in the preceding six months. Its revival rests on an ambitious cost-cutting plan in which landlords are persuaded to sign up to more affordable rents, and suppliers agree to more favourable terms. Money saved will then be reinvested in the turnaround. 'We're going to need help from a group of stakeholders to help us rebuild this grand old institution into something that it deserves to be,' Curtis said. 'Who the hell is TG Jones?' With the WH Smith name still appearing on hundreds of shops at airports, train stations and hospitals, Modella was forced to come up with a new brand for the shops, which have operated under the same name since the first WH Smith shop opened in Mayfair, central London, in 1792, when George III was on the throne. The 'TG Jones' name was invented by Modella directors. Marketing experts have cast doubt on the rebranding exercise, while the reaction of shoppers suggests it will be a battle to convince some that the business still has a future after its relaunch. A goodbye video posted on WH Smith's official Instagram account prompted a flurry of negative responses: 'Yeah, you've just killed the whole business mate. Nobody is going to TG Jones,' one reportedly said. 'Who the hell is TG Jones?' asked another, while a third described the redesign as 'horrific'. In a letter to staff, Modella said: 'As a very well-known surname in the UK, Jones feels like a worthy successor to Smith and carries the same sense of family.' With a logo made up of the same blue and white colours that have long been a feature of the WH Smith branding, customers will soon be won over, Curtis predicted. 'If you're in a town, you've lived there all your life, and you've walked down that street all your life, and the cover facia is still exactly the same white, exactly the same blue, you probably won't notice it,' he said. The signage on the stores will be changed to 'TG Jones' over the coming weeks and negotiations with landlords will begin in earnest, with Modella hoping to persuade them to grant more affordable rents. Shop owners will be coaxed with the offer of longer leases than they've become accustomed to under WH Smith. Building a future Around 350 stores are on leases of less than two years but Modella believes that by signing up to longer contracts – perhaps 10 years – landlords may agree to an initial period that is rent-free, which would release cash to re-invest in refurbishments. 'If we go to that landlord and say ... 'We'll use all that cash and we'll make that shop look really beautiful'… what that's doing is improving the asset. It also gives us a long-term partnership. So it's investing together,' Curtis said. 'Vacancies on UK high streets are running around about 14pc ... There's a lot of vacant units, so if they [landlords] can work with a partner that's prepared to put a long-term commitment down ... For some of these landlords these are pension funds for their families ... it creates security,' Toal said. There are even plans for several new store openings. 'We're not in Manchester city centre ... We should be ... and we're under-represented as a retailer in London,' Toal said. The last time WH Smith opened a store on a UK high street was decades ago. 'We want to send a message to the market ... We want to open stores where it's viable to do so,' Curtis said. Modella is betting that suppliers will be similarly receptive. 'I think suppliers thought this business hasn't got a future. They now think, 'boy, has it got a future' ... which is brilliant for them, because rather than supplying 100 stores in three years' time, they're hopefully going to be supplying 500 – that's massive for them,' Curtis said. This optimism isn't necessarily shared everywhere. Some retail figures believe the business has a slim chance of survival. Meanwhile, the Communication Workers Union has expressed fears that Modella could even be 'looking to asset-strip it'. Such suggestions are rejected. 'It generates cash. It's got a solid level of profitability ... There's much more value for us here in growing something that makes X today, and Y tomorrow ... If we are on the up in 10 years' time, there's no reason why we couldn't float this business, because it could be worth a lot of money,' Curtis said. 'We could easily just say that they should quietly close this over the next couple of years but you don't need to ... and we don't want the high streets of this great nation of ours to be proliferated with charity shops, vape shops and coffee shops,' he added. 'We're in a lot of locations. If we're not there, then who else is going to come in?' Toal said.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
How dare entitled MPs say the ‘middle class' doesn't deserve financial help
This week, 11 MPs on a combined salary of £1,032,944 decided one of the only saving products to help first-time buyers should be scrapped because they fear it is used by too many middle-class people. The Treasury Committee urged Rachel Reeves to 'consider the future' of the Lifetime Isa (Lisa), a tax-free saving product that allows people under 40 to invest up to £4,000 per year, which is matched by a £1,000 contribution from the Government. They took particular aim at the 25pc bonus, suggesting this £600m outlay was not a good use of taxpayer money given the 'current strain on public finances'. Of course, these MPs, who were handed a £2,558 pay rise in April, are spot on. It has never been easier for young people to get on the housing ladder. Everywhere you look young people are buying homes like never before! Walk down a residential street in Britain, all you can see are happy young people moving into their first homes. It's about time we stopped this Lisa racket and stopped giving the bloody middle class a hand up in getting on the property ladder. Are these really the thoughts that were racing through MPs' heads? I have to confess I am one of those young people, aged 25, hopefully saving into a Lisa each year, but stuck at home with little hope of getting out. According to NatWest, I'm not alone. They found the average person now lives with their parents until the age of 28. House prices are now eight times higher than median wages – more than double what they were in the 1990s. Meanwhile, the average age of a first-time buyer is creeping ever closer to 40. It now averages 34 in England and 35 in London, according to the English Housing Survey. These figures have become almost meaningless today. They are rattled out all the time. Half of them were even in the Treasury Committee report. But clearly these MPs don't understand the significance of them. They don't understand that while they collect a salary of £93,904 per year, while also being able to expense their rent and travel, millions of young people are sitting in their parents' basement growing ever more disillusioned with their future. The lifetime Isa, launched in 2017, offered a way on to the housing ladder. It certainly isn't perfect. The purchasing cap of £450,000 has remained frozen since its inception, leaving many home buyers in the South East facing a punitive 25pc withdrawal fee if they buy a home above this price. The cap would be £600,000 if it had risen in life with inflation. But again, the Committee squirmed at the idea that the Government should support anyone but the neediest in owning a home. They said the frozen £450,000 cap was justified because it 'ensures that Government spending supports those who need financial assistance the most'. It is such an infantile argument to suggest that the Lisa should be reformed because it's not used by the poorest in society. Any form of savings account will always be disproportionately used by those who have more money because they can afford to put aside some of their salary each month. By that logic, you might as well scrap all Isas. Just scrap all savings accounts, and we can all be poor and equal. There is no doubt the 25pc bonus is generous. No other savings account will pay out such a return, but rather than this being a poorly targeted support that aids the super wealthy, it is in fact a great leveller. There are 1.4 million active Lisa holders. Since 2018-19, 228,000 people have used Lisas to buy 182,500 homes, which equates to an average of 38,000 homes purchased each year. These are not the super-rich, but the hard-working middle class. Moneybox, one of the largest providers of Lisas, said 80pc of its account holders earned £40,000 or less. Tembo Money found its Lisa customers earned £41,000 a year on average, and were able to buy a home four years earlier than those without Lisas. Be in no doubt – these people would have been less able to afford their home without the 25pc bonus. It's hard to understand what message this cross-party group of MPs therefore are trying to send to young people. Dame Meg Hillier, a Labour MP and chairman of the Committee, questioned whether it was 'the best way to spend billions of pounds over several years'. But £600m is a drop in the ocean of the £3bn about-turn Sir Keir Starmer has made on personal independence payments. And it doesn't compare to the £1.25bn winter fuel farce either. Chancellor Rachel Reeves would do well to ignore almost every one of the 64-page report put together by the Treasury Committee. There is a breaking point at which young people will stop paying for about-turn after about-turn from their parents' basement.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
I booked £400 flights for the wrong date - but the agent won't give me my money back
I lost £400 by mistakenly booking flights online for the wrong dates. I booked using an online travel agent that compares flights from different airlines. I didn't realise when I navigated back a page, my dates were switched to the site's default dates. The flight I accidentally booked was a few weeks away, while the one I intended to book had been in three months' time. I'm not able to travel on the former dates. Within minutes, I realised my error and filled in an online cancellation form with the travel agent. This was a Sunday so I couldn't speak to them on the phone. I thought I could get my money back as I read that purchases made online come with a two-week 'cooling off' period. But my request was declined and I'm still out of pocket. Why? T.R Helen Crane, This is Money's consumer champion, replies: The cost of going away has rocketed in the last few years, meaning we are all desperate to get a good deal. When flipping back and forth between internet tabs comparing different airlines, dates and prices, I can see how a mistake like this could be made. You are right to say that, when buying things online, customers usually benefit from a 14-day cooling off period. This is a legal protection. But unfortunately for you, it doesn't apply to plane tickets - or tickets for any other form of transport, for that matter. This is because the companies who sell them argue that, as the tickets are tied to a specific time and date, they would be hard to resell in many circumstances. Essentially, they say having to pay back any customer who asks within two weeks would leave them at an unfair disadvantage. Having a 14-day 'get out' clause would also encourage holidaymakers to game the system, as they'd be able to cancel and re-book if they saw prices had dropped. When denied a refund they feel they deserve, a savvy consumer might turn to their credit card provider - if they paid using one - hoping to be protected by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. However, that is unfortunately also not possible in your case, as consumer expert Scott Dixon explains below. So what options are open to you, if any, to recoup your £400? I asked Dixon, who runs the website The Complaints Resolver, to explain the rules and what you can do. Scott Dixon replies: Unlike most online purchases, flight bookings are exempt from the standard 14-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. This means that once you have confirmed and paid for your flights, you are generally locked in, even if you have made a mistake. The reason for this is because flight tickets are time-sensitive and perishable. Airlines argue flights are time-specific services that cannot be easily resold if cancelled, and are subject to dynamic pricing, meaning that fares can fluctuate rapidly. Airlines operate on tight margins and aim for maximum seat capacity, so changes can disrupt their logistics and financial position. This exemption is set out in Regulation 28 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which lists the circumstances where cancellation rights do not apply. This includes accommodation, transport, vehicle hire, catering and leisure services, if the contract is tied to a specific date or period of performance. In plain English, if you book transport like flights, trains or buses for a specific date or time, the 14-day cancellation right does not apply. That's why consumers cannot legally cancel a flight just because they changed their mind or made a mistake, even within 24 hours of booking. If you have made a booking error (like selecting the wrong date), you are relying on the airline's goodwill. Some airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and American Airlines may allow a 24-hour grace period to amend or cancel without penalty, but this is a voluntary policy and not a legal right. Section 75 protection under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 only applies if there has been a breach of contract or misrepresentation, and only when you book direct and spend over £100. It doesn't apply to mistakes made by consumers. Travel insurance typically won't cover this, unless a specific cancellation clause applies in the terms and conditions. Always double-check your dates and details before you proceed. If things do go wrong, be polite but persistent and contact the airline directly as soon as possible. You are relying on staff goodwill, so be nice if you need to ask for their help. Politeness and good manners costs nothing, yet it can make the difference between you getting the outcome you want or the outcome you deserve. Helen Crane replies: Unfortunately, it seems this is likely to be a costly lesson. You are out of the 24-hour grace period that Scott mentions, and even then, this is completely voluntary and you don't know if the agent you used would have been willing to offer it. That said, all of this is ultimately down to the company's discretion, so perhaps one attempt at a charm offensive as he describes wouldn't hurt. It is interesting that the three firms he names which may look kindly on customers who make mistakes are all airlines, rather than agents. Personally, I now try to book flights direct with the airline wherever possible, rather than using a third-party travel agent. In my experience this makes life easier when things go wrong, whether that is a cancellation, lost luggage, or a booking error like yours - as you only have one company to deal with rather than two. However, it does often mean missing out on the absolute cheapest deals.
